Netgear Orbi and the missing speakers on iOS app

  • 11 September 2020
  • 7 replies
  • 747 views

Posting this in case it can help someone else with a similar situation.

Background: 8 Sonos components in the house. A mix of legacy Connect, Connect:AMP, a newer model Connect:AMP, several Sonos Play:1 and Sonos One’s. All on Sonos S1, all on WM:1 (House Wifi) network.

Netgear Orbi RBR50 router and two RBS50 satellites 2.4GHz Channel 1.

Everything was working GREAT for YEARS.

Then, I added a 9th speaker, a Sonos Move. This is where it starts getting weird.
Speakers start dropping off the iPhone app. My son’s iPhone app… we are looking at them side-by-side… some are on my phone, some are on his phone, some are on both, some are on neither. Sometimes they would pop back on mine and then pop off again later.
I figured it was just a software update issue. 2 weeks went by and it didn't magically fix itself.
Did adding the Sonos Move cause this? I still can’t way for sure if it was coincidence or not. Anyhow… the really weird part… ALL of the speakers are still showing on my wired Windows 10 PC Sonos app.

Sonos support had me shut off both the RBS50 satellites and… all the speakers magically show up on the iOS app.
I don’t want my satellites turned off… so, I decided to switch my Sonos network to SonosNet (channel 11) instead of Wifi.
The idea being if Sonos uses its own mesh network, the RBR/RBS won’t matter since they aren’t in the mix anymore.
So, I hardwired one of the speakers, they all switch to SonosNet (except for the Sonos Move) and the problem persisted.

I noticed the Sonos network still knew about the Wifi. Of course... the Sonos Move is still on Wifi. Maybe they are all still communicating with the RBR and RBS, even though they are supposed to be on SonosNet?
By powering down the Sonos Move, I gained the ability to remove the SSID from the Sonos configuration. I thought maybe this would work, with everything on SonosNet and Sonos having no knowledge of my Wifi network.
Everything appeared to be working fine, albeit without the Sonos Move.
(I did not test this configuration for any length of time without the Sonos Move. My suspicion is it would have worked forever, but I wanted the Sonos Move to work also.)

I factory reset the Sonos Move and tried to add it back to the network without Wifi. It requires Wifi. No SonosNet for Sonos Move... Bummer.
So I started looking for other solutions and came across the Netgear Orbi RBR50/RBS50 firmware update list. I was on an old firmware version. Release notes state that version 2.5.1.8 "Fixes the compatibility issue with Sonos devices." SWEET! The latest was 2.5.1.16, so upgraded to that version.
Fingers crossed... everything seems to be working at the moment...


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7 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +13

Hi @sonoswes, thanks for reaching out with the Sonos Community! We greatly appreciate you being a part of the Sonos family. It is our pleasure.

Glad to hear things are working, and we also appreciate your time and effort in sharing this. This is great and would really be helpful to other users that have the same setup. Sometimes refreshing and updating are the keys to make things work again. 

By the way, the Sonos Move only connects directly to the router using 2.4GHz or 5GHz and does not have the capability to connect to SonosNet or any Sonos hardwired to the router. 

Just let us know here if you need anything. We and the community are always here to help.

UPDATE: New problems have arisen with the Sonos MOVE.
Symptoms:

  • Windows 10 app shows 8 speakers (7 on SonosNet and Sonos MOVE on Wifi)
  • My IOS app shows 7 speakers (the ones on SonosNet)
  • My son’s IOS app shows 1 speaker (the Sonos MOVE on Wifi)
  • Can play music on the Sonos MOVE in isolation
  • Can NOT group the Sonos MOVE with the other speakers (it silently fails)

I have a feeling Sonos speakers on Wifi are going to continuously have problems with Netgear ORBI, unless I turn off all the ORBI satellites. I also have a feeling that my son’s phone is connected to the same satellite as the MOVE and that’s why he can see it and I can’t...

Some one please HELP!

Userlevel 5
Badge +13

Hi @sonoswes, thanks for getting back to us. Please submit a diagnostic report and reply to us with the confirmation number to further check on our end. It would be best if you and your son can both submit it to compare the difference. This is all something to do with the network and not synchronize that’s why it’s not allowing you to group them together as the Move directly connects to your WiFi and the rest of the Sonos connects to each other as long as you have one hardwired to the router. 

Just let us know. We and the community are always here to help.

Sonos Community, 

I am having the same issue. New Orbi RBR850 (AC6000) with one satellite router.

I have 14 sonos speakers, but only the 3 moves are not showing in the app. 

Would you have a recommended setting? I would not like to choose in between Sonos and Netgear

Today, I spend sometime with Sonos Technical Support to fix this issue. Their assistance was impecable (Thanks Jeffrey R!)

This is what to do to fix the issue:

My sonos system uses a Sonos boost, 14 speaker 3 of which are Sonos Move.

This last 3 where out of sight when I changed to the Orbi Router AX6000 (RBR850).

This are the steps I followed:

  1. Unplug the Sonos boost for 10 seconds and plug it back. Wait until the light is solid white
  2. Remove the Sonos Move from the charging base and push the power button until the speaker sings a goodbye tone and shuts down.
  3. Wait 10 seconds and place the speaker back in the charging base while pushing the infinity button. Keep pushing while the status light changes from white to white orange , blinking green and finally solid green.
  4. Open Sonos S2 application and proceed to add the speaker like if it were new.
  5.  Repeat the process from step 2 for every other Sonos move that does not show in the app.

I have been testing the app and the speakers the whole day. No service interruption or connection issues were observed.

I hope this post can help others.

 

 

I am also experiencing this issue. I have an Orbi Router AX6000 (RBR750) with one satellite and 4 other Sonos devices. When I connected the Sonos Move, a number of issues would occur:

  • Sonos Move would be offline
  • Sonos Move would disappear
  • Orbi device could not be detected

I have reset/rebooted the Sonos Move the way Carlos described several times, and it is still buggin’ out. 

OK, I think I figured out why this wasn’t working for me even after following the steps above. My modem, BGW320, and Orbi RBR750 shared the same SSID. For reasons I don’t fully comprehend, the Sonos Move started messing with the Orbi network causing several devices to switch connections to the modem instead of the router. Since AT&T doesn’t allow WiFi to be disabled on that modem (a separate headache), I renamed the modem SSID so devices can’t wirelessly connect to it anymore.

It might be too early to tell, but the connection has lasted more than 30 minutes - a new record! The Move has not disappeared and it hasn’t freaked out other devices on the network.